Garment parachute



Jul 21, 1942, A. B. VOSSELLER GARMENT mmcnnm Filed, May 24, 1940 5Sheets-Sheet 1 llllllll Ill-Ill ATTORNEY m L L E S m m5 mm H M u A y1942- A." B; VOSSELLER 2,290,218

GARMENT PARACHUTE Filed May 24, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR AUEEL/ SB. VOSSELLER ATTORNEY July 21, 1942. a a14r- GARMENT PARAGHUTE Filed May24, 1940 5 sheets sheet 3 INVENTOR AURELIUS B. V0$$ELL ER ATTORNEY July21, 1942. VQSSELLER 2,290,218

GARMENT PARACHUTE Filed May '24, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORAU/EEL/US B. VOSSELLER BY 1814, W ATTOR y 21, 1 A. B. VOSVS'ELLERGARMENT PARACHUTE Filed May 24, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet. 5

INVENTOR AUREL/US B. VOSSELLER ATTOR EY Patented July;21, 1942 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT PARACHUTE Aurelius B. Vosseller, UnitedStates Navy Application May 24, 1940, Serial No. 336,965

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as,

amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a garment parachute and has for an object toprovide an improved means oi. making a parachute capable of beingcontinuously worn while on a flight, with increased comfort and lessweight than with present conventional types of back seat or chest packs,and which is instantly available as contrasted to the so-called quicklyattachable type of parachute.

As is well known, standard seat or back pack parachutes are souncomfortable that they cannot be worn for long periods without causingtorment to the wearer, especially when used in large airplanes where thewearer has to move around from place to place in the performance of hisvarious duties, and does not remain'constantly seated as does the pilotor passenger in a smaller airplane. It is the practice in largeairplanes for the members of the crew to wear the parachute harnessonly, while the parachute pack is theoretically quickly attachable incase of emergency. In spite of this, however, many deaths have occurredin large airplanes when the emergency happened too quickly for theparachute pack to be attached.

With this invention the garment parachute has the dual purpose ofproviding a flight jacket with the major portion of the harness strapsbuilt therein,'while the parachute canopy is so placed therein that itoccupies much less space than in the conventional back pack, but insteadis spread over a greater area of the body of the wearer, simultaneouslyproviding cushioning and warmth to such area while in flight.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of means formaintaining the parachute canopy thus distributed, preventing the canopyand shroud lines from slipping down to concentrate the weight in oneportion, and instead maintains it so widely distributed that bulkinessand discomfort are eliminated and. that free motion of the wearer ispermitted.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists inthe construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafterdescribed and illustrated in the drawings, in

which,

Fig. 1 is an elevational partly broken away view of the back of one formof garment parachute, showing the canopy packing but omitting theharness straps.

Fig. 2 is a sideview of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view showing the means for protecting andcovering the rip cord pin.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a coil spring type of parachute.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the helical spring per seofFig. 5. v I IFig.7 is a side view of another form of spring type of pilot parachute.

Fig. 8 shows the pilot parachute of Fig. 'l mashed fiat to packedcondition.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of another manner of golding the pilotparachutes ofeither Fig. 5 or Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of agarment parachute, but with a different type of pack flap.

Fig, 11 is a bottom edge view of the outer layer of the garmentparachute of Fig. '10. r

Fig. 12 is a side view of the garment parachute of Fig. 10 in the formoccupied in operative position.

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 12 when the pilot parachute has justejected itself.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view broken away of a bungee means ofinsuring'quick opening of either of the above forms of garmentparachute.

Fig. 15 is a back view of another form of parachute garment wherein thecanopy container is of elastic fabric and has its opening extendingcentrally of the back.

Fig. 16 shows the form of Fig. 15 with the flaps in open position.

Fig. 17 is a side view of Fig. 16.

Fig. 18 is an elevational view of the back of still another form ofgarment parachute, where in rip cord means holds the canopy indistributed position.

Fig. 19 is an elevational view of the canopy position holding rip cordmeans of Fig. 18.

Fig. 20 is a perspective sectional view of the canopy position holdingrip cord means of Fig. '19.

- Fig. 21 is a front elevational view of one form of built-in garmentparachute harness usable with any of the above forms of garmentparachute packs.

-Fig. 22 is a similar view of another form of built-in garment parachuteharness.

Fig. 23 is a back view of Fig. 22. Fig. 24 shows the back view ofanother arrangement of garment parachute harness straps; and

Figs. 25 and 26 show front and back views'of yet another arrangement ofgarment parachute harness straps.

There is shown at 30 a parachute garment in the form ofa jacket, to theback of which is securely fastened as by stitching 3i, a strong fabricpanel 32, which may be of canvas or other similar material. Thisstitching 3| also extends along the sides of the jacket and alsoservesto hold side flaps 33, which are provided with snap buttons 34 acrosstheir lower edge, to thus provide side pockets 35. Extending from thebottom of r the fabric panel 32 is a front panel 36 which is providedwith a plurality of grommeted eyelets 31, through which may extend therip cord cones 38 for cooperation with the rip cord pins 48 extendingfrom common rip cords 4|. At the top these rip cords 4| extend throughcables 42 over the shoulder of the jacket to a rip cord handle 43conveniently located on the front of the jacket. Plans 44 extending fromthe side edges of panel 36 may be folded flat to conceal and protect therip cord pins, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, being held in such folded overposition by cooperating snap fastener elements 45 and 46.

Also secured on the rip cord cones 38 beneath front panel 36 are aplurality of fabric rungs 41, having grommeted eyelets to extend throughthe cones 38. These rungs 41 provide supports for the folds of theparachute canopy 49, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and serve to hold thecanopy in properly distributed position throughout the containerprovided by the back fabric panel 32, panel 36, and side panels 33, theexcess of the canopy that cannot be supported by the rungs 41 beingdistributed in the side pockets 35.

The parachute shrouds 58 extend from the canopy to the harness straps I.The top of the panel 36 is held in closed position by very weak snapfastener elements 52 so that they may be easily unfastened by the pilotparachute spring 53 of the pilot parachute .54 after the rip cord handle43 has been pulled. The pilot parachute 54 is connected by its shroudlines 55 to the parachute canopy 48 and is located, when in packedposition, in the mashed flat form shown in Fig. 6 just beneath the upperedge of the covering panel 36.

To insure quick and easy opening of the panel 36, bungee cords 51 may besecured to the panel, 36 between the grommeted eyelets 31 tending to.

pull the panel 36 ofi the cone 38. Resisting this pull, howeyer, are aplurality of bungee cord shields 68 which end in extending eyes 58 heldover the rip cord cones 38 by the rip cord pins 48. These shields 68resist the contractal effect of the bungee cords 51 until rip cord pins48 have been pulled, permitting the shields to drop off, whereupon thebungee cords 51 assisted by the pilot chute spring 53, cause the panel36 to open very quickly and release the parachute canopy 48 foroperation. When so operated the shields 68 and the fabric rungs 41 willprobably be lost, necessitating a new supply thereof when the parachuteis repacked.

The form of the invention shown in Figs. to 13, inclusive, differs-fromthat just described only by having the front panel 36' extending by wayof an extension panel 6| from the top edge 62 of the garment, and at itsbottom edge is provided with a pair of grommeted eyelets 63. throughwhich extend rip cord cones and pins cooperating with an extension 64from the rip cord.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 15, 16 and 1'1, thecontainer for the parachute canopy is formed of elastic fabric flaps 18and 1| held in fastened position with the same type of rip cord conealong a central flap 12. An'

upper panel 13 extending downwardly from the neck of the garment and alower panel 14 extending upwardly from the tail of the garment aretucked beneath the upper and lower edges of the side flaps 18 and 1|. Inthis form the container for the canopy does not extend to the sides, asin the previously described form, but instead extends downwardly toabout the knees of the wearer.

The canopy in this form is folded in vertical parallel folds 15, beingheld in such position by the covering flaps.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 18, the individual folds ofthe canopy instead of touching each other, as in Figs. 15 to 1'1, areheld separated from each other by a quick detachable fastening meanssuch as a lock stitching 88, extending through suitable openings 8| inthe elastic fabric side panels 82 and 83, these side panels 82 and 83being secured together by the same rip cord means along a central flap84, as previously described. In this vcase, however, there are auxiliaryrip cords 85 extending to pins 86 which, when pulled, release the lockstitching 8| to quickly separated position, this being assisted, ofcourse, by the fact that the fabric side panels 82 and 83 are elastic.As shown in this figure, panels 81 and 88 extend over the lock stitching88 to protect it against injury, the lock stitching 88 being shown inmore detail in Figs. 19 and 20. The shroud cords 98 extend downwardlyinto pockets formed along the legs 9|, flaps 92 being provided to permiteasy packing of the shroud cords within these pockets.

In Figs. 21 to 26 are shown several forms of fastening the built-inparachute harness to the garment, and any of these forms of securing theharness 5| may be used with any of the forms of the garment alreadydescribed. In Fig. 21, for instance, the garment I88 has the seat loop|8| extending upwardly within the garmentas at I82, extending therefromat the shoulder as at I83, and being joined above the shoulder by backstrap I84, which is fastened at I85 integrally to the garment I88, thisgarment I88 being provided with an inner lining I86 extending throughoutthe garment and of suflicient strength to act as a foundation both forthe back straps I84 and for the D-rings I81, to which thigh straps I88may be buckled. All built-in parts'of the strap harness 5| are stitchedas at I89 to the inner lining I86. To insure the garment remainingclosed, a chest strap II8 provided with a fastening buckle III issecured at II2 to the inner lining I86, while a D-ring II3 is secured atI I 4. In Figs. 21 to 26, the outer covering 99 is completely omitted,except for small portions through which extend the D-rings I81.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 22 and 23, the back strapsII5 are secured together by a cross back strap 8 and themselves extendunder the arms of the garment and end in chest crossing portions II1with the usual attaching buckle I I8.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 24, the back straps I28criss-cross each other as at I2 I, and terminate in chest crossingportions I22,

the side, as at I25; where it passes around the side and extends to thefront, where it terminates as at I26 and is fastened to the front strapI 8| Other modifications and changes in the number and arrangement ofthe parts may be made aaeaeia by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the nature of the invention, within the scope of what ishereinafter claimed.

The invention described herein may be manuiactured and/or used by or forthe Government oi the United States of America for governmental purposeswithout the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor. I

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature 0! this invention,what isclaimed is:

1. A parachute garment comprising a built-in reinforcing lining, aparachute harness secured to said lining, a built-in parachute containerexsupporting and retaining the parachute canopy in distributed positionin the container, means I ior supporting the parachute-shroud linesbelow the parachute container, said latter means comprising individualpockets built into the sides of the thigh portions of said garment, andflaps on said pockets allowing access thereto in stowin v the shroudlines therein.

tending along the hack of the garment, means, for

supporting and re the parachute canopy in distributed position in thecontainer, and means for supporting the parachute shroud lines below theparachute container, said latter means comprising individual pocketsbuilt into the sides oi the thigh portions of said garment.

2. A parachute garment comprising a built-in reinforcing lining, a chuteharness secured to said lining, a built-in parachute container extendingalong the back of the garment, means for 3. A parachute containerincluding a tightly extending fabric cover for taining a parachutecanopy in distributed position therein, rip cord means for releasingsaid cover, extended bungee cord means having at least one end thereofsecured to said fabric cover AUREIJUS B. vossszntm.

supporting and rep

